| Summary: | In this interview, Irma Reynolds recalls her strict upbringing in Birmingham, Alabama, during segregation, including her views on the educational system. Reynolds explains how her mother ensured that she and her siblings become well-behaved, educated people. She says, "We got more rearing from principles and teaching than we did by the strap." She gives examples of her mother's teaching. She also describes how they didn't have nice things growing up because her mother was frugal with money. She felt it was better spent on an education than on nice clothes. Reynolds says this attitude also helped them get through the Depression. Reynolds says the family was never on relief because of the money her mother had saved up from what her father had left them. In fact, her mother employed a woman and her children to wash their clothes, and they also had enough money to buy their coal for the winter at the beginning of the season. Reynolds talks about what Birmingham was like during segregation. She explains that in general, she dealt with mistreatment from whites without cursing them: "A fool can curse. If I have to tell you something, my terminology will be such that you will have to think." Reynolds also mentions her son, Washington, D.C., Civil Rights leader Julius W. Hobson. She reads a poem she wrote about him. Reynolds taught school for 45 years and was the Principal at Irondale Elementary. She compares black and white schools, saying whites had better lunchrooms and lunch service, as well as transportation. She discusses the disparity in pay due to education and how black teachers had to go up north for school. She recalls attending Industrial High (which became Parker High), and she remembers being taught by musicians Malachi Wilkerson and Fess Whatley. Reynolds also discusses her affiliation with the Zeta Phi Beta sorority and her opinions of the Birmingham World newspaper.The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries.
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